The invention relates to a system for recording and/or reproducing information signals on/from at least one record carrier, which system comprises an apparatus having a device for recording and/or reproducing the information signals on/from a record carrier and at least one cassette adapted to be inserted into the apparatus, which cassette accommodates a record carrier and comprises at least one indicator which by means of one of its parameters indicates at least one characteristic value of an element of the cassette, the apparatus comprising at least one detection device for the detection of the parameter of the indicator, which parameter indicates the at least one characteristic value.
The invention also relates to a cassette for such a system, which cassette accommodates a record carrier and which comprises at least one indicator which by means of one of its parameters indicates at least one characteristic value of an element of the cassette.
The invention further relates to an apparatus for such a system, which apparatus comprises a device for recording and/or reproducing the information signals and into which a cassette can be inserted, which cassette comprises at least one indicator which by means of one of its parameters indicates at least one characteristic value of an element of said cassette, and which comprises at a detection device for the detection of the parameter of the indicator, which parameter indicates the at least one characteristic value.
A system of the type defined in the opening paragraph is known, for example, from AT 356 916 B. In this known system, which is a magnetic-tape system, each cassette of the system has blind-hole-like recesses in the housing of the cassette, in which break-out tabs are arranged as indicators to indicate the total storage capacity or total tape length. By breaking out a tab the depth of the relevant recess from the which the tab has been removed can be changed, which means that two different values can be selected for the depth of the recesses. In the known system the depth of the recesses represents the parameter indicating a characteristic value of the magnet tape accommodated in a cassette, i.e. the total storage capacity or the total tape length. As each cassette in the known system has three such recesses it is achieved that the characteristic value of the magnetic tape in this cassette can be assigned to a combination of two different values of the depth of each of the three recesses, thereby enabling eight different gradations of the characteristic value of the magnetic tape to be indicated. Since particularly a cassette of minimal dimensions has hardly any room for a larger number of such recesses the available number of recesses is comparatively small particularly for small cassettes, which has the drawback that only a comparatively small number of gradations of the characteristic value of the magnetic tape in a cassette can be indicated. In an apparatus of the known system the detection device for detecting the parameters of the indicators, i.e. the depth of the recesses, indicating the characteristic value of a magnetic tape, is of electromechanical construction. The detection device basically comprises three spring-loaded pins which at one end sense the depth of the recesses and at the other end cooperate with electrical switches capable of being actuated depending on the depth of the recesses. Such a detection device is very expensive and is of comparatively intricate construction, which is also considered to be a drawback.